Two ski resort rivals in Lake Tahoe are teaming up to bring a big event to the area and improve transportation.

There are bus services on the north and south end of the lake,
but they aren't connected. There are only 55-thousand permanent
residents, but Curtis Hasty of the Tahoe Transportation District
says the problem is, tourism drives the total to 200,000 on an
average day.

HASTY: "All of a sudden we are a small metropolitan area,
two lane highways all trying to circumnavigate Tahoe, that's a big
challenge."

It could get worse. Squaw and Heavenly resorts want to bring the
X-games to Tahoe with tens of thousands of more people. So, they
are teaming up for new transportation solutions. One is a
ferry.

HASTY: "We would be looking at two, they are just passenger
ferries, they are not car ferries like San Francisco Bay, they are
120-passenger vesells, they are high speed , low wake can cruise
40-50 miles per hour so they would be year round."

He says the boats can carry the equivalent of 8 busses every
hour. Public comment on the proposal is expected to begin in
May.